Feast of St. Marcellin Champagnat

Blessings as we reflect on the Feast Day of St. Marcellin Champagnat (June 6th). One hundred and eighty-five years ago, Marcellin died at the age of fifty-nine. As a young priest, serving in the small rural French hamlet of LaValla, he quickly came to realize that the poor country children of his surrounding area had no hope of a future as there were no schools. More alarming to him was his concern that many of those young people lacked a basic understanding of our faith. With no money and two young recruits, he began the Marist Brothers on January 2, 1817. His dream of educating young people to become “good Christians and good Citizens” quickly grew. Today that dream continues to inspire many young people in 81 countries around our world. 

As we celebrate Champagnat, our USA Province is blessed to be able to welcome twenty-five Lay Marists who will formally commit to being a Marist of Champagnat as well as those Lay Marists who recently completed our new Pathway 1 program. We are further blessed to be soon welcoming three postulants into our USA Marist Brother Formation Program in September.

From the earliest days of our founding, St Marcellin entrusted the needs of all our Brothers, Lay Marists, young people and our many schools and programs to Mary, our Good Mother. He knew that under her protection, all our unspoken prayers and needs would be met. 

Let us continue to entrust all the needs of our Marist world to the sacred heart of Mary. May she continue to watch over our Marist world and all of us that are graced to be part of it.

With Gratitude and Blessings,

Br. Dan O'Riordan '85, US Provincial

Interested in becoming more involved as a Lay Marist? Contact Maureen Hagan at mhagan8486@gmail.com.

Links: MoC Website  | MoC Timeline

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